11/21/2025
Honoring the Legacy of Dr. Charles G. Stephens
"Charles was an incredible teacher. He was constantly teaching himself and he was constantly teaching others. He had an insatiable appetite for learning and he was never satisfied with what he already knew. He would never go to bed knowing the same amount that he knew when he woke up that morning. This was because I don’t think he ever forgot anything he ever learned. He had the best memory I have ever seen. He not only knew his patients, he new their ancestry and their lineage. He even knew where they worked, what pets they owned and where they went on vacation. He was the quintessential family practice physician. Something that started and probably ended with his generation. He did prenatal care, he delivered babies, he took care of pediatric patients, he did women’s health, he did men’s health and he did surgery, he did radiology, he did emergency medicine, he did geriatrics and he did palliative medicine and hospice care. He was board certified in Family Medicine and Geriatrics. And I was blessed to be the object of his tutelage from 1998 until he retired in 2012. I sat next to him while he read x-rays I assisted in the operating room. I shared an office with him in the clinic. We ate lunch together a lot and we discussed most of my patients together. His patience with me was incredible. When I missed a diagnosis he would say, “Now you have seen it; you won’t miss it again.” He was good at tough love and thankfully I was able to see past the gruffness to his underlying desire to do the very best for the patient even when it meant strongly pointing out incompetencies in care. He was always the patient’s advocate. When he referred a patient to a specialist he always sent a letter with everything he thought was pertinent about the patient. What he had already done to work them up and what he hoped to accomplish with the referral. He then learned from the correspondence that came back so his patients would have an even more efficient and effective visit with the specialist in the future. Not only did he know medicine, he knew how to run the business side of medicine as well and he was very good at administration and managing people. He took people like me who knew very little and shaped them into the people he needed them to become so that they and he could be successful.
He also knew how to cook. I was so lucky that I could eat without gaining weight and I think I fascinated him so he would try his hardest to fill me up with amazing food and stuff me to the gills. When he wasn’t cooking himself he also knew where to eat and what to eat when you were there. I remember it was not fun for the wait staff if they had never met him before because he would walk into a restaurant and tell them exactly what he wanted and how he wanted it. It really didn’t matter what was on the menu or how it was supposed to be ordered because it was going to be what he wanted the way he wanted it and when it came that way they were duly rewarded but when it didn’t they were going to be told (not gently) that their performance was unsatisfactory. Charles also new how to be a husband. It was obvious how much he loved his wife. He literally would practically skip out the back door when it was time to go home. He taught me what it meant to be a provider and a protector. He provided Javene with life long love and affection and care. At the end when life got tough, I saw him fight for his own life because he didn’t think she was quite ready to live without him yet. But the thing I admired most about Charles was his love for Jesus. Charles knew how important it was to know Jesus in ever increasing depth and to make him known wherever and however he could. He supported missions he led Bible studies, he taught Sunday school, and he had a morning men’s breakfast and Bible study every week. He wasn’t just in Church he was a leader at Church. He supported Christian higher education. He did everything he did the way he did it because he was convinced that God was able to change people’s lives for the better. He had seen it happen multiple times."
- Jon Borchard, PA-C
